Perhaps James Fenton ("How Grimes became grim", July 3) has been reading too much Crabbe and listening to too little Britten. In the production of eter Grimes now playing at the Royal Opera House, Peter Grimes comes across as a confused, desperately frustrated, isolated figure, his condition reflected not just in his carelessly brutal treatment of apprentices, but also in his awkward relationship with Ellen Orford. There is not the slightest suggestion of pederastic motive. Surely Grimes's situation is a telling and touching analogue to that of two English pacifist homosexuals in the second world war? Leo PilkingtonLondon

James Fenton's survey of Peter Grimes as an immoral tale seems to have missed the point. Britten does not attempt to hide from the audience the abuse of the apprentice, nor justify it. The genius he displays is in taking Crabbe's thoroughly evil character and allowing us to sympathise with him, and look beyond our initial horror at the crime committed to see how Grimes became a criminal.

Britten composed the opera upon return to England in 1942 after a self-imposed three-year exile in the US. He was both a homosexual and a conscientious objector, both illegal in the UK at the time. In many ways, Grimes is an autobiography: Britten, like his character, is a visionary, misunderstood and made into an outsider by those around him. Ben EckersleyUniversity of Sheffield

Music to chill by

Steven Poole ("What's the buzz", July 3) perpetuates the myth that the music in John Cage's 4'33" "comes from the rustlings, sighings and creaks of the audience". The point of the piece is surely its length - 273 seconds equalling the approximate value of absolute zero (-273 degrees Celsius). The ideal performance would be to an audience of one. Show the listener into a brightly lit, soundproof, light proof room with lift music playing, then cut the light and the sound - four minutes 33 seconds of total sensory deprivation.

I might enter it for next year's Turner prize. Peter LucasBirmingham

I see no ships

Sue Arnold's review of Roman Lives by Plutarch (July 3) makes the surprising allegation that Caesar was captured by Turkish pirates. I think some mistranslation has occurred here, as the Turks at the time of Caesar were still nomads on the steppes of Central Asia, and would not have access to the sea for a least 1,000 more years.Brian RobinsonEssex

Workplace converts

Tom Hodgkinson's review of Madeleine Bunting's Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives ("Branded for life", July 3) seems to disconnect the achievements of the trades union movement from Methodism. Many of the union activists who started to bring justice into the workplace were Methodist preachers. Before the 1870 universal education act the Sunday schools of Methodist chapels provided much of the best basic education and afterwards propelled many children from working families into the free places of the new grammar and central schools - probably the advantage alderman grocer Roberts received. Every communicant Methodist gave something to the fund which ensured no one from the community, not just the chapel, starved. "Don't leave it all to God" is why the Labour party owes more to Methodism than Marxism. However, New Labour might owe more to John Knox and Calvinism than John Wesley and Arminianism. Cliff HarrisLeamington Spa

Fictional finance

I'm afraid Richard Eyre ("Loose change", July 3) would need something more complex than a simple calculator to work out what sums mentioned in classic fiction would buy today. Even within our own experience there have been seismic shifts: at the start of my career in 1960 my annual salary was roughly one-quarter the local cost of a "standard" three-bedroom semi; at its close - earning somewhere between two and three times my starter salary - I now earn less than one-sixth of that semi.

On the other hand, my 1960 salary would have been just about sufficient to purchase a desktop calculator capable of the four basic mathematical operations, taking square roots and "remembering" as many as four numbers; now, such devices are so cheap that they usually come as gifts from insurers. No attempted inflation correction will ever convey what comes over in a few lines in The Diary of a Country Parson, as the diarist records spending more on half-a-dozen pairs of kid gloves than his housemaid will receive in a year.David LewinDidcot

Is it as difficult to stab a man as Richard Eyre suggests ? Remember the old mafioso's dying words to his son - "Thumb on the blade, my boy, and strike upwards". Michael Healy Harpenden

Off balance

I have been a devoted reader of the Review since its inception. Though I have always known the gender balance of contributors and subjects has not been equal, it seems to me that the situation is worsening. Sue Arnold seems to be your only woman regular columnist. Have you not thought about trying to play your part in influencing the literary scene?Judith DimondKent

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